Nazis, Communists like 'acid rain' on Christians: Pope

Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the Eucharist at Cathedral Square in Erfurt, Sept 24, 2011. -- PHOTO: REUTERS ERFURT, Germany (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday paid tribute to Catholics who kept the faith alive under Nazi and communist regimes, as he celebrated mass for around 30,000 people in the former East Germany. Religion was oppressed under both Adolf Hitler's Nazis and the communists in East Germany, whose effect on the Christian faith was like 'acid rain,' Pope Benedict told a cheering, flag-waving crowd in Erfurt. 'You have had to endure first a brown and then a red dictatorship, which acted on the Christian faith like acid rain,' he told worshippers. Erfurt was home to one of the most resilient Catholic communities under communism. 'If we think back thirty years to... 1981, when this city formed part of the German Democratic Republic, who would have thought that...